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For once, the mood inside Turf Moor was decidedly upbeat. The home fans had been buoyed prior to kick-off by the news that the Clarets had been drawn at home to Manchester United, as reward for their defeat of Spurs a few days earlier. Burnley lined up in the 4-4-2 formation which had been so successful against Tottenham. Mark McGregor was excluded from the 16, as Steve Davis returned at the heart of defence. There were also changes in midfield, as Tony Grant replaced The Skip. Paul Weller was moved to a central berth as Glen Little was recalled to the starting line-up, and Blake and Taylor was again the preferred striking partnership.
As soon as the game kicked off it became clear that Craig Hignett, on loan from our arch-rivals, was to be the object of the home crowd’s derision throughout the afternoon. But more on that later. Burnley had the first decent opening on 5 minutes, but Glen Little dragged his left-footed effort well wide. On 7 minutes, abuse rained down from the stands, as Hignett broke through Burnley’s defence and forced a one-handed save from Beresford. Four minutes later he was at it again, and Marlon did extremely well to palm his shot onto a post.
Despite the visitors’ early pressure, it was Burnley who took the lead on the quarter hour mark. Dean Gordon was caught out by Glen Little’s clever turn inside the box, and brought him down. Referee Mick Jones had no choice but to award a penalty. As sanity has now been restored at Turf Moor, it was Robbie Blake and not Dean West who placed the ball on the spot. Despite Lee Mills rabbiting on to Blake in an attempt to distract him, Robbie made no mistake with the penalty to score his seventh of the season and put the Clarets ahead.
For the next twenty minutes, Coventry took the upper hand. Gnohere and Beresford got in a tangle with Lee Mills on 20 minutes, but Graham Branch was on hand and kept a cool head to sort things out. Ten minutes later, the impressive Ritchie Partridge broke into the box, and for my money was upended by Glen Little. Incredibly, Mr. Jones booked Partridge for diving. Maybe our luck was in.
It certainly seemed that way five minutes later, when comical defending from Coventry allowed Tony Grant some space in the box. Totally unmarked and with most of the goal to aim at, Grant scored his first goal for Burnley, and his first goal of any kind since he netted for Everton in February 1998. At 2-0 you imagined that things couldn’t get much better. And then they did.
Unhappy about an offside decision given against him, Craig Hignett illustrated his displeasure not by having a quiet word with the ref, but by making dubious hand gestures towards the assistant referee who had flagged him down. Mr. Jones was far from impressed, and produced his red card. Other than the goals, the sending off produced the loudest cheer of the half. What made it doubly funny was that Hignett was dismissed in front of the Jimmy McIlroy Stand, meaning he had to walk the length of the pitch with the jeers of the home supporters ringing in his ears.
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Little did we know. The ten men of Coventry had re-organised at half-time and re-emerged in a 3-4-2 formation. Clearly believing they could get something from the game, they had decided to give it a go. For the first 20 minutes of the half, Coventry threw everything at Burnley, and we had a ridiculous situation where a visiting team 2-0 in arrears and down to ten men was dictating the play. Even more amazingly, Burnley were allowing them to do it.
Both teams got what they deserved on 66 minutes. Graham Branch put in a clumsy challenge on City’s Calum Davenport, and Mr. Jones pointed to the spot for a second time. Player-manager, Gary McAllister took the spot-kick, and with Marlon unable to produce his penalty-saving party-piece, Coventry were right back in it.
Burnley were briefly stunned back into life, and a Taylor flick-on was latched onto by Dimi Papadopolous, on as a sub for Robbie Blake. Unfortunately, the Greek international could not calm the home supporters’ nerves, as he blasted his effort over the Sky Blues goal.
At the other end, the game was nearly up as Coventry’s incessant pressure almost reaped dividends. On 72 minutes, Gary McSheffrey embarked on a great run as the Burnley defence parted before him. Luckily for the Clarets, McSheffrey’s shot was way off target. But the Clarets supporters were growing increasingly anxious, as memories of Bradford came flooding back.
A quarter of an hour later, those nerves were calmed by a slice of luck. Breaking down the left hand side, Gareth Taylor swung a speculative cross towards the front post. Unfortunately for Calum Davenport, the ball took a huge deflection and sped past the helpless Debec. It was harsh on Coventry, who had shown tremendous spirit in the second half, but sometimes football is like that.